ONI SDU
by Robert Anderson
Summary: This story follows a marine unit working for the Office of Naval Intelligence during the Human-Covenant war. The story follows an ONI demolitions unit across several battlefields as they do the cryptic bidding of the Shadowy organization.
1. ONI SDU

ONI SDU

Part 1: Tactical Chaos

What had once been a lush jungle was now a raging firestorm. Pillars of thick black smoke rose into the sky blotting out the early morning sun. A pelican dropship wove through the thick smoke a mere two hundred meters above the jungle canopy. The pelican's rear hatch was open. Master Gunnery Sergeant Sean McKinney was standing just inside the hatch. His left hand was gripping the bulkhead above him. He gripped the bulkhead tighter as the pelican dropped a few feet, but all the while he continued to stare out at the burning jungle below them.

"Sir message coming in from HQ." A voice said over the squad COM.

"Patch it through would you Jonesy?" Sean said sticking a cigar in his mouth and lighting it. The COM crackled for a second then the gruff voice of Colonel Fredrickson filtered through.

"McKinney what the hell did you do out there!" The Colonel yelled.

"My job sir." Sean replied.

"I told you to take down the outpost and retrieve the AI, not obliterate a national forest!" The Colonel continued.

"Sir, the Covenant was closing in, and my orders were non-specific as to how I was to demolish the outpost, I chose an incendiary option that may or may not have involved three or four barrels of high grade napalm." Sean concluded.

"Very well," The Colonel sighed, "Did you get the AI core?"

Sean turned and looked at the large metal crate sitting on the pelican's deck just aft of the cockpit. "Yes sir, the AI core is intact and our ETA is approximately twenty minutes to alpha base." Sean told him.

"Good, I'll be looking forward to your report on the op." The Colonel said.

"Roger that delta one out." Sean said cutting the connection.

The Colonel's speech had gotten old for the Sergeant after the first time he'd heard it, but he knew that Fredrickson was obligated to give it every time. But Sean loved his job, albeit a job that few in the UNSC were willing to volunteer for, and a job that had caused many of his fellow servicemen and commanding officers to think that he was slightly crazy. Sean was an expert in heavy demolitions. His mission was simple, asset denial, if the Covenant wanted it, he obliterated it. How he went about destroying his target was generally left to his discretion.

Sean had joined the marines right out of high school and his first week at boot camp his drill instructors had taken notice of his natural talent for demolitions and general all around chaos. His drill instructors than took it upon themselves to hone his natural abilities and teach him the fine art of explosive demolitions.

After basic Sean had gone on to take extensive training in NBC warfare. That had been nearly fifteen years ago, now five commanding officers and six planets later the Sergeant had gained a reputation of getting the job done by any means necessary.

It was a tough job, usually he and his handpicked squad were the last to leave an area when the higher ups ordered a "strategic withdrawal" But at least it never got old. Whenever someone asked him why he did this job he always answered the same way "The pay is good, the scenery changes, and they let me use explosives."

Sean turned and looked at the six other marines sitting in the pelican's rear compartment. He glanced around the compartment and appraised his men. Sitting just behind him was Corporal Jonesy his radio man his large backpack long range COM link was sitting on the deck between his legs, Even after being up all night the man looked not the least bit tired Sean thought.

Sitting in the seats beside Jonesy were Rob and John the squad's other two demolition experts. They had been trained as demolition experts much as Sean head, but they'd only been in the service for about two years now. Oddly enough they didn't look the least bit tired either.

Sergeant Horner was sitting on the other side of the compartment his MA5 on his lap. Horner was your standard run of the mill marine Sergeant who Sean had chosen as his second in command. He was a battle hardened marine who had been in the service for nearly ten years.

Horner was nearly six feet tall and looked like he hit the gym every day. He looked truly intimidating, but everyone in the squad knew that his bark was much worse than his bite.

Sitting next to Horner was PFC Henderson, Henderson had only been with the squad for about six months and Sean was still trying to teach the marine the difference between doing something crazy and doing something stupid.

To Henderson's left sat PFC Jennifer, "Jen" Howard. This had been Jen's first mission with the squad and Sean noticed that she was still a bit wide eyed. Obviously no one had told her what she was signing up for when she had volunteered for the squad. But then few people knew just how big one could make an explosion when one wanted to Sean smiled to himself.

"Is there anything better than the smell of napalm in the morning marines?!" Sean yelled pulling each marine out of his or her individual thoughts.

"Hell no master guns!" The marines yelled back in unison.

"Sergeant Horner when we get back to base make sure everyone is given some R & R." Sean told the Sergeant.

Sean turned and looked out the rear of the pelican again, they were now flying over a small town just outside the jungle. The town at one time had been some big tourist attraction. It sat between the jungle and the ocean.

When everyone had evacuated JOTUN heavy industries had "donated" it's ten story office building to the UNSC for use as a command center for their groundside operations. The pelican was now swiftly approaching the roof of this building.

Sean turned and walked forward into the cockpit. Each second the building was growing larger in the pelican's canopy. Sean gripped the bulkhead as the pilot flared to slow his momentum and began to descend to the rooftop.

The pelican swayed slightly as the pilot lined up with the makeshift landing pad that had been constructed on the roof, and then a slight bump as the small ship's landing gear made contact with the building.

Sean stepped back into the rear compartment just as the pelican was settling onto it's landing gear.

"Rob, Jen take our package down to the techs, Jonesy take the mission footage down to ops, then all of you get some rest." Sean said addressing his men.

His men snapped to their jobs without question. Each marine picked up his or her gear and filed off the pelican.

"Get some sleep sarge." Sean told Horner as he passed.

"Yeah, sleep be nice to have some of that for once." Horner said clapping Sean on the shoulder as he passed.

Sean stepped down from the pelican last, but instead of heading straight downstairs he walked to the edge of the building and looked over. He could see pillars the pillars of smoke rising from the jungle starting to mingle with the smoke billowing from the many fires raging around the city. If he listened hard enough he could also hear the faint sounds of gunfire emanating from the countless small urban battles with the Covenant.

They wanted to destroy this world too, as they had many others. But not if Sean had anything to do with it, No Jericho VII would not fall. Sean turned and walked into the rooftop stairwell that would take him down into the building. Sean trudged down three flights of stairs. When he reached the landing he forced his way through a disabled emergency door and entered a long hallway.

The hallway led into your standard cubicle filled room. As he passed he could see marines sleeping in the cubicles and just about any other place they could find. The building that the USNC was using was an office building not a military installation so it lacked many of the standard facilities that they needed among them living quarters.

Sean turned right down another hallway lined with florescent lights and cheesy fake potted plants every few feet. Halfway down the hallway he stopped and pulled a door on his right open. The door led into a small conference room. It was your standard issue conference room, large windows lining one side with a ten foot mahogany conference table in the center of the room. The table was surrounded by ten fake leather office chairs.

This conference room was where Sean had setup shop. The table was strewn with an assortment of weapons, explosives, and equipment. A small portable computer sat at one end of the table. A box of cigars lay open next to four bricks of C12 and a half empty box of shotgun shells. His rucksack was sitting in the middle of the table flanked by several cans of C7 and a lotus anti-tank mine.

The rooms' thick red carpet was strewn with old mission reports, and other assorted files, and there were at least ten half empty cups of coffee sitting on various surfaces around the room.

Two Jackhammer rocket launchers sat propped up in a chair at the end of the table with several spare tubes lying on the floor next to the chair. Even a brand new never used GGNR sat in its plastic case in the corner of the room.

The Colonel had requisitioned the extremely expensive weapon more than six months ago and it had just come in the other day. It was exceedingly rare to find a GGNR in the field and Sean was itching to try it out on some Covvie armor.

Sean pulled his M90 off his back and leaned it against the wall, he'd clean it later. Then he pulled his helmet off and ran a hand through is white hair making it look even more disheveled. He absent mindedly tossed the helmet into one of the chairs and began pulling off his combat armor and laying it in the same chair.

After removing the last of his body armor he stretched feeling ten pounds lighter without the cumbersome armor. Sean grabbed an MRE off the table and flopped down in one of the chairs facing the windows. He leaned back and began ripping open the bag or rations.

Sean knew that even though it had been a long productive night, that his day had just started. But that didn't mean he couldn't catch a quick nap…Five minute later he was asleep.


	2. Entropy

Chapter 2: Entropy

Sean woke with a start. He leaned forward in the chair that he had fallen asleep in and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. How long had he been asleep? He looked across the conference table at the large windows lining the opposite side of the room. In the time that he had been asleep the sun, which had just been rising, had traversed across the sky and was now beginning to set.

There was a knock at the conference room door. Sean stood and shuffled to the door. He pulled it open to find a young PFC standing outside.

"What can I do for you private?" Sean yawned.

"Sir, the Colonel wants to see you ASAP." The marine said.

"Sure, tell him I'll be up in a minute." Sean told the PFC.

The PFC saluted, which Sean returned, and the marine spun on his heel and headed down the hallway. Sean turned back into the conference room. He grabbed a duty cap from his rucksack and pulled it on. He checked his appearance in the reflection of one of the windows and sighed.

He wondered what Fredrickson wanted. _He probably wants to chew me out for missing the debriefing_ Sean thought.

Sean grabbed the MRE that he hadn't had the chance to eat off the table and headed for the door.

As he walked through the cubicle room toward the stairs Sean munched on the turkey sandwich that had been inside the MRE. There were even more people in the room now trying to get some shut eye.

Sean took the stairwell up to the top floor and forced his way through the emergency door. The top floor was where all of the command staff had setup shop. The Colonel in particular had setup his operations room in the building's largest conference room.

Sean knocked on the door and waited for the Colonel to say "Come" before entering. There was no conference table in this room. Instead the room was dominated by a large holotank, and the room was littered with free-standing displays and view screens.

When Sean entered the Colonel was leaning over the holotank looking at a 3D tactical map of the city.

"You asked to see me sir?" Sean asked saluting the Colonel.

"Yes Master Gunnery Sergeant, I have a mission for you, this one comes straight from ONI." Fredrickson said returning the salute.

"There's a TRAXIS building on the other side of the city." The Colonel explained, "The building contains an undeleted NAV database, now up until this point we have held the area where the building stands, however; we no longer hold that ground. Now as far as we know the Covenant does not know about this database, but just to be safe ONI wants it destroyed."

The Colonel finished talking and handed Sean a manila file folder. Sean opened the folder and scanned the information.

"Yes sir, my team can pull this off, we can be ready to leave in fifteen minutes." Sean said.

"We've had intermittent contact with a sniper team that is still in that area Master Guns, we've already sent a message telling them that your team is going to be in the area, so they may attempt to link up with your squad." The Colonel added.

"Got it sir, what kind of support do we have on this one?" Sean asked.

"No pelican on this one, AAs to hot over there, they're fueling an M12 TT conversion for you right now though." The Colonel replied.

"Sounds fine to me sir" Sean said saluting again.

The Colonel returned the salute and Sean spun on his heel and marched out the door.

Now he just had to find where Sergeant Horner was hiding.

Sean finally found Horner in the building's underground parking garage. Leaning against the squad's new ride an M831 TT conversion.

"Sergeant Horner." Sean said in greeting.

"Evening Master Guns," the Sergeant replied.

"Sarge I need you to get the squad together get them back down here in ten minutes. Tell them to gear up for urban combat. Tell John and Henderson to pack M90s instead of MA5s. Oh, tell everyone to grab a damage pack, I'm gonna need the extra C12" Sean told him.

"Yes sir." Horner replied.

"Oh and sarge give Jen a jackhammer, we may need the firepower and maybe it'll help her loosen up." Sean added.

"Got it Master Guns." The Sergeant replied jogging toward the stairwell.

Sean did a once over of the hog and then followed Horner up the stairs.

He arrived back at the conference room and began throwing on his gear. He donned his body armor and picked his helmet up off the chair where he had dropped it. He stuck the helmet on his head, and as he did so a HUD snapped to life on the helmet's orange visor. His squad's biosigns, and COM frequency appeared as well as a wealth of other information.

Sean grabbed the shotgun that was leaning against the wall as soon as he picked it up an ammo counter and targeting reticule appeared on the HUD. The ammo counter flashed empty so Sean quickly loaded the weapon. He flipped the shotgun over his shoulder and felt rather then heard the quiet thunk as the magnets on the back of the armor plate grabbed the weapon and held it in place.

Sean picked up the half empty box of shells off the table and shoved it into his rucksack. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed two cans of C7 and placed them in the bag, as well as a handful of detonators. Sean swung the bag over his shoulder and looked around the room for a damage pack.

A damage pack was a standard UNSC satchel filled with C12. A damage pack had enough explosive power to blast through three meters of titanium A battle plate.

Sean finally found one lying on the floor under the table. He knelt down and picked it up, also swinging this bag over his shoulder.

Finally Sean grabbed a Jackhammer out of the chair at the end of the table. He hefted the weapon, then hesitating for a moment he stuck an extra magazine for the rocket launcher under his arm and headed for the door.

Sean left the conference room and descended the stairs to the underground parking garage for the second time. When he reached the parking level his squad was already gathered around their new warthog. Sergeant Horner turned and waved him over.

"Everyone ready to move out?" Sean asked tossing the Jackhammer to Horner.

"Yes sir, everyone's ready to go, and we're loaded for bear." Horner told him as he placed the Jackhammer in the back of the warthog.

"Ok then, Horner, your riding shotgun, no pun intended, Jen your on rear guard with the Jackhammer, everyone else find an open seat and saddle up." Sean ordered.

The Master Gunnery Sergeant hoisted himself up into the driver's seat and started the engine. The warthog rumbled to life and Sean slowly depressed the accelerator.

The three and a half ton warthog variant rolled out of the underground parking structure and onto the city streets. As he drove down the street Sean noticed that there were no other vehicles headed for the front. Every Scorpion, warthog, and mongoose that they passed was heading back toward base that could not be a good sign he thought.

Finally the hog rolled up to a sandbag bunker in the middle of the road.

"What can I do for you sir?" A rather tired looking private asked waling up to the warthog.

"Is this the forward command post?" The Master Gunnery Sergeant asked.

"Yes sir, you're who they sent to reinforce this position right?." The marine replied.

"Sorry, no we have business behind enemy lines, how's the Covenant activity in this area?" Sean asked.

"This grid square has been pretty quiet for the past hour or so." The marine said.

"Thank you private." Sean said. He depressed the accelerator and the hog roared off down the street.

Ten minutes later Sean applied the brakes and the hog rumbled to a halt on a deserted side road. The sun had finally dipped below the horizon and the cloudy sky had grown dark. Now up and down the deserted rubble filled street halogen street lamps were flickering to life and a soft rain was beginning to fall.

Sean turned and looked at his marines in the back of the vehicle, "We are within one kilometer of the objective, we walk from here."

The Master Gunnery Sergeant jumped down from the driver's seat and the rest of the squad followed suit.

"Ok, I'll walk point" Sean said, "Jen your our rocket jockey tonight" He said pointing at the rookie. "John, Rob, Henderson, Jonesy you four are in the middle, Sergeant Horner you mole whack any straggles." Sean finished.

"You heard the man, let's move out!" Horner bellowed.

The squad formed up as per the Sergeant's orders and they started down the rain soaked street at quick a, yet cautious space. The private back at the bunker had said that there hadn't

been any Covenant activity in the grid square, but Sean wasn't taking any chances with this op. The rain grew heavier as the squad rounded the street corner and their objective came into sight.

Sergeant Horner let out a low whistle when he saw their target. Their target building, an eight story glass and steel box belonging to the TRAXIS corporation, sat at the end of a long four laned boulevard. The wide boulevard had a thin grassy median dotted with lamp posts running down the center, and about two thirds of the way down the avenue a large pile of debris that had once been a building blocked the road, forming a three meter tall berm of shattered concrete and steel rebar.

Sean stopped and glanced around the deserted intersection. The brief rainstorm that had drenched the demo team was now beginning to subside, but the cloud cover was still thick over head and it continued to block out the light of the planet's single moon. Sergeant Horner walked up and stood beside Sean.

"Permission to speak freely sir." He said.

Sean turned and stared at the Sergeant, "Oh Tom go ahead and say what you're going to say."

"Sir I've got a bad feeling about this one." Horner said.

"So do I sarge," Sean said staring off into space for a second, "So do I."

Sean stared across the street and noticed a sign advertising liquor I an abandoned store front. "Sergeant Horner," Sean began an idea forming in his head.

"Yes sir?" Horner asked.

"Take Henderson and go across the street and procure something to celebrate with once the mission is complete." Sean told him pointing to the store across the way. "Then randevous with the rest of the squad at the berm at the far end of the avenue."

"Yes sir!" Horner said perking up, "Henderson, get your ass in gear and let's go procure some liquid assets for the squad." Horner bellowed motioning for PFC Henderson to follow him across the street.

"The rest of you, staggered formation, double time it down the road and secure that pile of rubble." Sean told the rest of the squad.

As Henderson and Horner ran across the street the rest of the squad formed themselves ito a staggered lie and sprinted two hundred meters to the pile of debris.

As Sean approached the berm he shifted his weight and allowed himself to skid into the debris. Seconds later he watched his unit do the same.

"Any contacts?" Sean asked the squad.

"Negative master guns." Rob replied sweeping his MA5 in an arc as he checked their side of the berm.

"Good, time to scout the target." Sean said pulling a pair of binoculars out of his pack and crawling up to the crest of the berm on his stomach.

He put the binoculars to his eyes and scanned the area forward of the berm. The boulevard dead ended about fifty meters beyond the pile of rubble in a large parking lot that still contained several cars. And, just on the other side of the parking lo was their target.

There looked to be no enemy activity near the objective,, but the Master Gunnery Sergeant knew that just because he couldn't see any enemy activity didn't mean that it wasn't there.

"Jen grab the thermal and get up here." Sean yelled down the berm.

Seconds later Jen appeared next to him carrying the unit's large thermal imaging scope. She put the instrument to her eye and thumbed the activation switch. She scanned the entire area forward of the berm from left to right. If there were any elites or jackels they would show up as brighter spots on the thermal imager, and the grunts would show up as darker spots.

When she finished scanning the area she looked up and shook her head, "No contact sir," she confirmed.

"Ok are Horner and Henderson back yet?" Sean asked.

"Right here sir." Horner called up from the bottom of the large pile of debris. Horner held up a large satchel that clinked softly as he moved it.

Sean slid back down the berm and stopped in front of his sergeant, "A little liquid propulsion Sergeant?" Sean asked.

"Yes sir, just as you requested," Horner told him.

"Building's clear for the moment, but that could easily change, let's do the thing." Sean told his Sergeant.

"Yes sir, this one's gonna big isn't it?" Horner asked with a grin.

"Oh yeah, let's move the whole squad down the street and take this bad boy down." Sean ordered.

"You heard the man," Horner bellowed turning to face the other members of the squad, "move your asses down the street and rendezvous outside of the objective double time."

Sean had already begun to scale the large debris pile and the rest of the squad were quick to follow. The marines crested the large road block and slid down the opposite side. As soon as their boots hit the pavement they began to run the last fifty meters down the boulevard to the large building.

When they reached the building all the marines skidded to a halt and quickly scanned the area. The large building was fronted by a bank of glass doors with two plate glass windows on either side. Jen shifted the jackhammer and pulled on one of the door handles.

"It's locked up," She stated, "How are we supposed to get inside?"

"You're new at this aren't you Jen?" John asked rhetorically, turning to face her.

Sean rolled his eyes and looked around the parking lot. Sean smiled and tapped Horner's shoulder. Horner turned to look and the Master Gunnery Sergeant pointed at a large concrete planter sitting next to a park bench a few meters away. Horner nodded and both marines jogged over to the planter. Horner and Sean each grabbed one side of the vessel, lifted it with a grunt, and jogged back to the rest of the squad.

Sean and Horner oriented themselves toward one of the large plate glass windows and began to swing the large planter back and forth between them.

"One…two…three." Sean counted. And on three both men released the planter. The heavy object smashed into the plate glass window, which shattered into a million pieces. Broken glass rained into the deserted lobby and Sean stepped through the broken window.

He carefully scanned the lobby to ensure that it was deserted and then motioned for his men through the window.

"Ok," He said turning to examine his unit, "John, Rob take the M383 Demo Kit down to the sub basement and rig the foundation support structure, Henderson you go with them." All three marines nodded and jogged off into the dark building. "Jen, Jonesy head up to the roof and keep a lookout for any unwanted guests. Horner your with me." Sean finished. He turned and started walking toward the stairwell at the rear of the large lobby.

Sean and Horner double timed it up the stairs to the sixth floor and stopped to catch tier breath. Sean could hear Jen and Jonesy thundering up the stairs behind them, and seconds later the two marines passed him on their way to the roof.

"Sixth floor, that should be high enough." Sean breathed pulling out a brick of C12 and a roll of adhesive tape. He broke the brick of plastic explosive in half and taped it to the wall at about chest height. The TRAXIS building was of modern design which meant that the building was supported by an inner core of concrete which also served to house the building's elevators, stairwells, and ventilation piping and equipment.

The design offered the largest amount of office space per floor while also maintaining the building's structural integrity, it also meant that eliminating the core would catastrophically destabilize the building.

Sean placed a second brick of explosives about four feet away on the same wall then attached wireless detonators to both bricks. He proceeded to repeat the task on the opposite wall. Satisfied that the job was half done he took a moment to examine the door leading out fo the stairwell. It was solid metal with no handle or mechanism on this side of the door.

"Horner, thermite grenade." Sean ordered holding out his hand. Sergeant Horner slapped the canister shaped grenade into the Master Gunnery Sergeant's hand.

Sean knelt down in front of the door and taped the grenade to it at about the height of where the handle should have been. Finally Sean stood, pulled the pin of the grenade, took a few steps back, and averted his eyes. The grenade went off in a shower of sparks and blinding white light. The superheated thermite burned completely through the door and destroyed the locking mechanism.

When Sean looked up the spot where the grenade had been was now a jagged hole, whose edges still glowed orange. He walked over and kicked the door open. On the other side of the door was a large room full of cubicles. Ignoring the cubicles Sean and Horner walked around the outside of the building's core until they were exactly on the other side of the wall from where he had planted the first two charges, at least as far as Sean could estimate.

Sean placed two more charges on this side of the wall. This way the four charges placed on both sides of this wall would form a crude shaped charge that would have enough power to punch through the concrete wall and sheer the building's core in half. This would cause the four floors above them to come crashing down and shock load this floor, and if John and Rob did their jobs right at the same time the foundation would be compromised and the entire building would pancake down on itself.

The quiet of the room was suddenly broken by John's voice crackling over the TEAM freq. "Sir, foundation is rigged and ready to blow."

"Copy that, rendezvous on the roof with Jen and Jonesy." Sean ordered.

"Roger, Anderson out." John finished.

Silence once again engulfed the room and Sean took a second to stare at all the empty cubicles.

"Ok Horner, job's done here, only one more thing to do." Sean told the Sergeant.

Their primary objective was all but complete and there was only one more taks to perform before he could blow the building. He and Horner had to retrieve the AI memory core they had been sent to retrieve.

Sean and Horner re-entered the stairwell and climbed the last few flights of stairs up tot eh ninth floor where the AI data core resided. Sean used thermite to open the ninth floor landing door and they were in. This floor consisted of a hallway leading off from a small reception area with glassed in server rooms on either side. At the end of the hallway was a heavy metal door that looked as though it could take some punishment.

Sean casually walked down the hallway and pressed his hands against the large door. He rapped his knuckles against the door, then stood back and thought for a moment. Finally making up his mind of the best way to remove the large obstacle Sean pulled a can of C7 foaming explosive out of his pack and squeezed the tiny nozzle into the minute crack between th two halves of the massive door. He depressed the nozzle and emptied the can into the crack. When the can was empty he tossed it away and stuck a small detonator into the resin like explosive.

Sean and Horner retreated back down the hallway. The two marines took cover around the corner and Sean pulled a detonator out of his pocket. "Fire in the hole!" He shouted and clicked the detonator.

There was a loud WHUMP and the room was suddenly filled with smoke. When the smoke cleared enough for them to see Horner and Sean proceeded back down the hallway. The compression wave from the explosion had shattered all of the server room windows and the hallway floor was littered with shards of glass. But most importantly the doors leading into the AI core were bent open like some obscene industrial flower had just blossomed.

Sean stepped into the core and looked around. He sighed and pulled a cigar out of his breast pocket. The Master Gunnery Sergeant put the cigar to his lips and stoked it with a lighter. In the middle of the room, where there should have been several towers housing the AI core logic they had been sent to retrieve, stood nothing but a few screws and a length of wire.

"The AI core's gone." Horner observed. "Do ya think the Covenant got it?"

"No, ONI has it." Sean said looking around.

"Then why did they send us out here?" Horner asked.

"I don't know sarge, I don't know." Sean sighed.

"This is bullshit sir." Horner said.

Sean was about to reply when Jen came over the radio, "Sir we've got contacts, lots of contacts!"

"Shit, We're coming up." Sean said into the radio, "Time to go to work." Sean and horner ran back down the corridor and into the stairwell. The Sergeants both sprinted up the last two flights of stairs to the roof. Sean and Horner burst out onto the rooftop to see the rest of the squad crouching behind the rooftop's low façade.

Henderson was peering through the scope of his BR55, and Jen had her eyes pressed to a pair of binoculars. Sean pulled out his own binoculars and watched as the image of a wraith racheted into focus. The wraith was flanked on both sides by at least four elites. There was also a smattering of the methane breathing grunts, and energy shield toting jackals.

"And a partridge in a pear tree." Sean whispered. The grunts and jackals weren't a problem but that wraith was going to be trouble. All and all Sean thought it just looked like a patrol. All of the elites wore the blue armor of minors, and Sean didn't spot any color higher then orange on the grunts.

"Henderson do you think you can take the elites at that range?" Sean asked the PFC

"I might be able to get two of em' but not all four sir." The marine responded.

"Good enough, but don't fire just yet." Sean advised. Sean turned and looked at Jen, "Jen I need you to take the wraith out."

Jen raised the rocket launcher to her shoulder and sighted down range, "Yes sir." She said.

"Be careful, we're not going to get a second shot at this." Sean warned.

"I know sir." Jen said sounding a bit harried.

Jen waited one more heartbeat and pulled the trigger. There was a whoosh and the rocket leapt free of the launcher. The rocket left a trail of smoke as it streaked through the air. As soon as the launcher cycled Jen fired again and a second rocket streaked from the tube. Both missiles flew true and one right after the other both one hundred and two millimeter shaped charges struck the wraith, which exploded in a shower of sparks and light. Debris from the destroyed wraith flew into the air and seemed to spin lazy circles.

No sooner had the wraith been destroyed, than Henderson opened up with his battle rifle. He managed to drop one elite but by then the enemy was already getting organized, and Sean could see the remaining three elites as well as the grunts and jackals make a run for the large pile of debris that had provided his own unit with cover on their approach to the building.

"Screw it," Sean said, "time for a new plan, everyone cease fire, we're going to let them get into the building."

"Sir?" Jen asked turning away from the action on the street below.

"John, Horner get out the climbing rope and find something to secure it to, but don't throw it over the side yet." Sean ordered, "Jen radio me when they get inside, Henderson follow me." Sean commanded already heading back into the building.

Sean and Henderson took the stairs back down to the ninth floor. Upon reaching the reception area Sean quickly scanned the room, spotting the elevator he jogged over and pressed the call button.

"Come on, come on." He whispered. Seconds later a reassuring "ding" informed him that the elevators were still working. The elevator doors opened and Sean quickly leaned into the elevator and hit the emergency stop button.

"Sir are we taking the elevator?" Henderson asked.

"Henderson, how long have you worked with me?" Sean asked sarcastically.

The Master Gunnery Sergeant stepped into the elevator and pulled a brick of less powerful C9 plastic explosive out of his bag. Sean unsheathed a large combat knife and expertly carved a small block off the end of the brick. He replaced the brick in his bag and withdrew another remote detonator, which he jammed into the clay like material.

Sean dropped the block on the floor, disabled the emergency stop, hit "L" for lobby, and casually walked off the elevator. The doors closed behind him and he slowly counted to ten as the elevator began to descend. When he reached ten he withdrew a detonator and nonchalantly clicked the detonator.

There was a dull THUMP and the sound of screeching metal as the elevator plummeted the last few floors into the lobby, hopefully destroying the entrance to the stairwells, and blocking the shaft.

"Sir they're in the building." Jen said over the radio.

"Roger that, we're on our way up." Sean replied.

Sean and Henderson double timed it back up to the roof where Horner was just tying off the last climbing rope to a large HVAC unit.

"Sir what…" Jen started to ask, but Sean cut her off.

"Ok when we hit the ground make for the debris pile ASAP, don't ask questions don't look back just run." Sean said grabbing one of the coils of rope of the ground as he passed. San tossed the rope over the façade and pulled on a pair of gloves. The rest of the unit hurried to do the same. Sean perched himself on the edge of the façade, grabbed the rope with both hands, and leapt off backwards.

The Master Gunnery Sergeant skillfully repelled down the building. He hit the pavement and rolled to absorb the impact, but just as fast he was back on his feet running for the debris pile. He could hear the rest of his men running behind him, but he didn't look back. When he reached the collapsed building he quickly scrambled to the top and flung himself over. In quick succession the rest of the marines crested the pile and slid down next to him.

Sean quickly counted heads to make sure everyone was present and accounted for. As he pulled a remote detonator out of his breast pocket he poked his head back over the berm to take one last look at the building. Sean slid a few more feet down the pile, then flattened his back against the debris. He carefully inserted a key into the detonator and twisted it, a red light came on indicating that all of the explosives packages were now armed.

"Fire in the hole!" he yelled. All of his marines instinctually flattened themselves against the debris pile and covered their heads. Sean carefully adjusted his helmet to make sure that it was on correctly and flipped the red safety catch off the detonation switch. He silently mouthed the word "boom" and pushed the button.

One hundred and fifty yards away the explosives packages received the signal to detonate. There was a loud BOOM and all the sixth floor windows blew out. At the same time the charges in the foundation went off and the entire first floor of the building lit up in a brilliant explosion. The foundation compromised, and the central core severed the building could no longer support its own weight and everything above the sixth floor came crashing down and shock loaded the rest of the building causing whatever structural elements that remained to fail. The building literally collapsed on itself in an ever expanding cloud of dust and debris.

The dust cloud swept over the wall of debris the marines were huddled behind covering every member of the squad in a fine layer of gray dust.

"Boom baby!" Henderson yelled after the dust had cleared.

"Holy shit sir." Jen laughed.

"See Jen, this job is fun." Horner said standing up and brushing dust off his uniform.

Sean stood and walked to the top of debris pile. "Sergeant Horner would you please confirm that the building is completely destroyed?" He asked.

Horner joined him at the top of the berm quickly scanned the area, "Yes sir, I confirm that the building is truly and completely destroyed. Nice one Master Guns." Horner said. Clapping Sean on the shoulder.

"Jonesy," Sean called back down the pile, "Radio HQ and tell them the building is gone and we're on our way back.

"Yes sir." Jonesy replied.

Sean half slid down the pile and joined the rest of the squad on the pavement. He stared down the boulevard at the still smoking remains of the wraith and lit another cigar. Suddenly Jonesy perked up.

"Sir something's wrong." The marine said sounding shaken.

"What's wrong Jonesy?" Sean asked walking over to the radio man.

"Sir I can't raise anyone at HQ, all I'm getting is an automated message that repeats every ten seconds." Jonesy explained.

"What does the automated message say?" Horner inquired.

"It says bandersnatch, bandersnatch, bandersnatch followed by 0600. What does it mean sir?" Jonesy asked.

"It means we are well and truly screwed," Horner explained, "The Covenant's glassing the planet, and we have till 0600 to evac before it's too late."

"By the sound of it HQ's already pulled up and left." Sean added.

Suddenly Jonesy put up a hand for silence, "Hold on sir, there's an encrypted message coming in for you from ONI."

"What does the office of naval intelligence have to say Jonesy?" Sean asked.

"Sir they say operation SUCKERPUNCH is in effect." Jonesy told him.

"Aw, hell." Sean said, "Horner get everyone moving, we need to get approximately two and a half clicks west before 0600."

"Sir what is operation SUCKERPUNCH?" Horner asked.

"I'll explain on the way." Sean said grabbing his pack. His new objective lay two kilometers to the west and he only had three hours to get there. ONI really did like to cut it close.


	3. Chemical Warfare

Part 3: Chemical Warfare

'Damn I wish we still had the hog' Sean thought as he stared around the corner of a large concrete office building. After they had received the radio message an hour earlier Sean and the squad had gone back up the avenue to see if the warthog they had driven from HQ was where they had left it. It was, but the Covenant had done an number on it, and it would not be going anywhere…ever…again.

So the unit had struck out on foot headed for a destination that only the Master Gunnery Sergeant seemed to know. Covenant activity had been scarce in the area, but as Sean peeked around the corner of the building he spotted a hastily constructed roadblock at the end of the street. It seemed to be under-manned though, only two elites and a hand full of grunts.

"What's it look like sir?" Horner asked.

"Come take a look for yourself sarge." Sean told him.

The Sergeant cautiously crouch-walked over to the corner and cautiously stuck his head out.

"Doesn't look to bad sir, I think we can take 'em." The Sarge said.

"Yeah, but there's a noticeable absence of cover between there and here." Sean observed dryly. "Henderson, how many mags you got left for the BR?" He asked.

Henderson checked his vest and then held up three fingers.

"three mags, ok" Sean said pulling a permanent marker out of his pocket and beginning to sketch out a plan on the smooth concrete wall of the building.

"Sarge," Henderson moaned, "Master Guns has that look like he's gonna make us do something crazy,"

"He's right Master Guns, what's the plan?" Horner asked.

"Ok," Sean said pointing at his crudely sketched layout of the street, "Horner, your running with Jonesy up the left side of the street, Jen and John you two are going up the right side, rob and I are going up the middle using the median as cover. Henderson your providing cover fire with the battle rifle from here."

"This is crazy sir." Jen said.

"It'll work just run as fast as you can and use the recessed storefront doorways as cover." Sean advised pointing to several stores that had conveniently placed alcoves at their front entrances.

The marines got into position, and Sean activated the TEAMCOM, "Go, go, go." He said in a calm voice. All six marines sprinted from their hiding spot and began running down the street as fast as they could. The bold move took the Covenant troops completely by surprise, and it was nearly five seconds before one of the Elite commanders gathered enough of his senses to issue an order.

It was then that a hail of plasma came flying in the marine's direction and the squad began diving for cover. Sean and rob quickly dived for cover behind a fat palm tree that had taken root on the grassy median in the middle of the street.

Sean pressed his back to the tree and looked to his right just in time to see Horner pull Jonesy into an alcove at the front of a clothing store. He quickly glanced to his left and saw Jen dive into a storefront on the opposite side of the street, John tried to follow but he just wasn't quick enough. Three plasma bolts caught him in the chest and he went down. Sean just stared at John's limp form waiting for him to get up again and somehow make it to the store, but he didn't get up.

The thud, thud of plasma impacting the other side of the tree, combined with the crack, crack, crack of Henderson's battle rifle quickly brought him back to his senses. He quickly peeked around the tree to see that one of the Elite's was on the ground bleeding out, but the other one had taken cover behind one of the hastily constructed barricades.

Unable to get a shot on the second Elite Henderson had gone to work on the grunts. All six of the diminutive gas-suckers now lay in pools of their own blue gore.

Sean turned to Horner and signaled him to move up. Sean heeding his own advice sprang from the cover of the tree and began sprinting the last few meters to the road block. The Elite never saw it coming.

Sean took a running leap and jumped onto the improvised barricade. Using his momentum to is advantage he leapt off the barricade and landed hard behind the startled elite. He landed hard and rolled to absorb the impact. Sean came up into a crouch just as the Elite was turning. He leveled the shotgun at the eight foot warrior, and the barrel of the weapon actually touched the warrior's shields.

Sean didn't hesitate, he pulled the trigger and the 8.8 gauge magnum shell blew the Elite's rib cage out through the back of his armor, splattering the barricade with purple gore. The battle was over just as quickly as it had started. Sean pumped the shotgun and the smoking shell was ejected from the weapon, it hit the ground with an audible plunk. The sergeant slung the weapon over his shoulder and began walking back down the street to where the squad was gathered around the fallen body of Private John Louis.

"How's he look." Sean asked kneeling down next to the body of the marine.

"He's gone sir." Jen informed him with a downcast look.

"Shit." Sean sighed; he was a good marine, and a damn good demo expert.

"Sir all due respect, it was a bad idea to rush that position." Jen said.

Sean stood and looked at the blood spattered road block. "We didn't have any choice private, marines die every day, and we have to get to that airfield. So grab his tags and lets move."

"Sir we could have gone around another way." Jen continued.

Had he made the right choice? Sean thought as he stared down at the dead marine, yes, there had been no other way. "Stow it marine, this is the only direct route to the airfield and we are running out of time, so grab the tags and let's move!" he ordered.

"Yes sir." Jen said quietly.

The unit quietly picked up their gear and started off down the now empty street in silence. The squad covered the next half a kilometer in complete silence, but then at about the five hundred meter mark the silence was broken by Henderson.

"So what is operation SUCKERPUNCH?" He asked.

"It's an ONI contingency black op." Sean told him, "Other than that I'm not authorized to give you any more details until we reach our objective."

"Oh, secret shit." Henderson said getting the point.

"Right secret shit." Sean confirmed.

Five hundred meters later the airfield finally came into view. The squad came to a halt just on the other side of a chainlink fence that surrounded the parameter of the small airstrip. The airstrip was also ringed by a grove of slender palm trees on all sides. The tropical plants swayed in a slight breeze and a faint orange glow was beginning to seep through the trees on the far edge of the airfield.

The marines followed along the chainlink barrier until a gate flanked by a small wooden hut came into view. The unit approached the gate and Sean gave it a tentative kick. Surprisingly the gate swung open with a high pitched creak.

"People really need to learn to keep stuff locked up." Sean muttered as he and the rest of the squad pushed through the security gate and struck out across the airfield. Other than a single longsword interceptor sitting at the end of the far runway the tarmac was completely empty.

"Ok, that's the escape route ONI setup for us." Sean said pointing across the tarmac at the bomber. "Rob, Jonesy get it squared away, I've got one last piece of business to attend to."

"Yes sir." Jonesy said sprinting off across the pavement towards the longsword.

"Now, the rest of you follow me." The Master Gunnery Sergeant ordered. Sean started off across the open expanse of the airfield towards a row of dull green corrugated steel hangers on the far side of the complex.

The hanger at the end of the row stood with it's doors wide open, and it was this hanger that Sean approached. Sean stood in front of the hanger's gaping entrance and stared at the device sitting in the middle of the empty hanger.

Sean sighed, cracked his knuckles, and walked into the dark hanger. Henderson, Horner, and Jen followed the Sergeant into the hanger.

A large metal pallet sat on the floor of the hanger. Eight mortar tubes were welded around the edge of the pallet. Each was facing out at roughly a one hundred degree angle, and each of the mortar tubes was connected to a small well armored firing computer that was situated in the middle of the pallet.

"Henderson go find a forklift so we can move this thing outside." Sean ordered.

"On it sarge." Henderson said jogging out of the hanger.

"Jen, Horner, grab those boxes in the corner and meet me outside." Sean said gesturing at two heavy duty plastic boxes covered in UNSC markings.

Horner and Jen picked up the boxes and followed Sean out of the hanger just as an electric forklift came around the corner of the building. Henderson gave the Sergeant a mock salute as he drove past him into the hanger.

"Just set 'em down here sarge." Sean told Horner when they reached a spot well away from the row of hangers.

Moments later the forklift approached the group and there was a whine of servos as Henderson lowered the odd contraption to the ground. When the load had settled onto the ground Henderson backed the forklift up a few feet and killed the engine.

Sean knelt down and popped the catches on one of the cases. He stood up holding several auto injector pens

"Sir what is this?" Jen asked, gesturing at the strange weapon's platform.

"It's a chemical weapons delivery system." Sean explained tossing one of the auto injectors to each marine.

"Ok, what exactly are these for?" Henderson asked holding up the pen.

"It's atropine just in case we don't get to the longsword in time." Sean told him.

"I still don't understand," Jen said, "Why do we need atropine?"

"Because these" Horner said holding up a mortar shell that he had removed from the second box, "Are filled with nerve gas."

"diisopropylamino ethyl-O-ethyl methylphosphonothioate to be exact." Sean told her. Horner gave him a look, "VX nerve gas." He clarified.

"Would nerve gas even work on the Covenant?" Henderson asked.

"VX works on any creature with a nervous system." Sean explained as Horner began dropping mortar shells into each of the tubes.

"This isn't right sir." Jen suddenly burst out.

"Excuse me?" Sean said rounding on the marine.

"Sir, I've got no problem killing the Covenant, but using nerve gas? It's just not right." Jen said.

"Right?" Sean repeated, "You want to talk about right? They glassed Harvest, they glassed Madrigal. It's obvious that the Covenant will cross any line necessary to completely annihilate the entire human race. "

"But…" Jen began, but Sean cut her off.

Horner and Henderson just stood by and watched the exchange with wide eyes.

"I agree with ONI, we need to show them that we are willing to cross any line to stop them. I am not going to sit idly by and watch them glass every innocent planet between here and Earth. I'm going to do something about it, I'm going to nuke and gas every Covenant target that ONI authorizes." Sean roared.

"Sorry sir." Jen said stepping out of his way.

Sean walked up to the device and plugged a small hand comp into the firing computer. "Ok I'm setting the timer for five minutes, let's get the hell out of here." Sean said tapping something into the small computer.

Sean unplugged the computer and turned to his squad, "Ok let's get out of here."

The four marines sprinted across the tarmac towards the longsword. There was a loud whine as the longsword's engines ignited and Jonesy waved to them from the bottom of the ship's boarding ramp to hurry up. The marines made it to the longsword and thundered up the ramp.

"Ok lock it up and let's go." Sean ordered when he reached the cockpit.

"Uh, does anyone know how to fly this thing?" Henderson asked.

"Aw shit," Sean said realizing that none of them could fly the damn fighter, "Get on the radio to the Armageddon and tell them we need some assistance."

"Come in UNSC Armageddon this is marine squad Charlie two requesting immediate assistance.

"This is Armageddon" Said a cool female voice through the radio.

"Oh thank god, Sara we need help getting a longsword off the ground." Jonesy said.

"Wait one," Sara said, "Ok I have control of the autopilot." The AI said.

Sean grabbed onto the back of the copilot's chair as the fighter shuddered as it's belly jest lifted it off the ground.


	4. Explenations

Part 4: Explanations

The Master Gunnery Sergeant stared out through the longsword's starboard viewport as the large bomber cycled through the Armageddon's massive airlock system. There was a low rumbled and the airlock's inner door opened allowing the longsword to enter the main hanger. SARA taxied the craft to an empty berth and gently set the ungainly craft on the deck, and powered down the engines.

Sean and the rest of his squad descended the craft's boarding ramp, and were met at the bottom by a marine MP.

"Sir, Colonel Fredrickson requests your presence in conference room A13 immediately for debriefing." The MP wasted no time in saying.

"Thanks marine." Sean replied. He turned to Horner and looked over his tired unit, "Sergeant take the squad to the mess and relax, then meet me outside the conference room in one hour, I should be finished by then, dismissed."

"Sir, yes sir." Horner said with a mock salute.

Sean snorted and walked away from his squad. He crossed the immense hanger bay and began winding his way through the maze of corridors that constituted the Armageddon's main decks. He took an elevator down to deck 13 and found conference room A. Modern navel space craft were mazes and the only way to find out where you were was to read numbers marked over hatches and bulkheads. UNSC ships used a standard system that had been invented for use on 20th century aircraft carriers. If you didn't know the system you were going to get lost, everyone did, but you got used to it, and by now the Master Gunnery Sergeant could navigate the ship without even thinking about it.

The hatchway leading into the conference room hissed open. The conference room was dark, only one overhead light illuminated the conference table, and the room's only occupant was Colonel Fredrickson sitting at one end of the table in a false leather office chair.

"Come in." the Colonel waved.

Sean walked in and the door hissed shut behind him. "How did it go?" The Colonel asked when Sean had sat down.

"It was an ONI black op." Sean told him.

"I know, they told me after you left, I don't like it." Fredrickson told him.

"I lost John." The Sergeant told his CO.

Fredrickson shuffled a pile of manila folders in front of him, "We lost a lot of good men on Jerhico."

"Yeah, but only one of them was mine." The Master Gunnery Sergeant replied.

"You should know, I've put you in for a promotion." The Colonel said changing the subject.

"A promotion?" Sean asked.

"One of my lieutenants was killed while we were pulling out and I need a replacement."

"But sir…I don't." Sean began.

"Ah, ah, ah," Fredrickson said putting up a finger, "Not this time, you're an officer and there is nothing you can do about it _lieutenant_" Fredrickson slid a small box across the table.

Sean grabbed the box and removed the single silver bar.

"Yes sir." He said pocketing the pin.

"Well, lieutenant, that's all I've got for you, oh but someone from ONI wanted a word so just wait here for them." The Colonel said gathering his papers and leaving the room.

Just then two figures in black uniforms stepped out of the darkness at the back of the conference room.

"Damn I hate when you spooks do that." Sean said lighting a cigar.

Both men appeared to hold the rank of Captain, but one was clearly much older than the other, and in charge.

"Lieutenant." The older man said sitting down at the table, "This is Captain Jonathan Louis of the prowler Leyte Gulf." The younger captain sat down.

"I like prowler commanders." The Sergeant said puffing on the cigar, "they don't have time for bullshit, and neither do I."

"And my name is…well my name isn't important." The older man said opening a manila folder. "I'm from ONI section 3 navspecwar." He said leaning back in his chair, "The ODSTs want you lieutenant, they want you bad, you turned them down twice so that you could stay with your unit. Well now the choice is gone." The Captain said leaning forward in his chair. "Option A, you join the ODSTs and that's that. Option B, is a mystery assignment that I can't tell you about unless you say yes first."

Sean leaned back and thought for a moment, "I'll take B." He said finally.

"Great, knew you would." The Captain said, "Welcome to ONI SDU."

"What's ONI SDU?" Sean asked.

"ONI Special Demolitions Unit." The Captain explained, "ONI has a lot of secret tings, lots of secret things that we don't want the Covenant, or anyone else for that matter getting their hands on, with an emphasis on enforcing the Cole Protocol." The Colonel told him, "You still report to Colonel Fredrickson, and you are still part of his battalion, but now if we say jump you ask how much explosive and where do you want it no questions asked."

"So basically you want me to blow more stuff up for you?" Sean asked.

"Precisely Mr. McKinney, we will be adding a new member to you squad in a few days to act as a liaison between you and ONI, other than that I believe we are done here." The Captain said standing up and walking to the door. When he reached the door he turned and looked at the lieutenant, "We'll call you when we need you."

With that both Captains simply left. Sean just sat there for what felt like hours smoking the cigar and thinking about the decision he had just made, Had he just sold his soul to ONI? What did it matter, he didn't really have much left to live for anyway he decided getting up out of the chair. He left the conference room and found Horner and the rest of the squad still fully dressed in their BDUs waiting for him outside.

"How'd it go Sarge." Horner asked.

"Lieutenant," Sean interrupted, "And it went fine."

"Lieutenant?" Henderson asked straightening up from the wall he had been leaning against.

"Colonel finally didn't give you a choice?" Horner asked.

"Nope." Sean replied quickly, "Let's change and hit the freezer."

Sean started off down the corridor and the rest of the unit moved to follow their commanding officer. Suddenly a voice came over the ship's COM system. "All crew secure for transit."

As they walked Sean could feel the vibration of the deck plates deepen as the Shaw Fujikawa Trans Light Drive came online. The squad came to a three way intersection. The corridor continued forward, and branched off to the left, but on the right was a large viewport looking out at the space off the ship's starboard side. The lieutenant stopped and put his hands against the viewport and gazed at the black void filled with pin pricks of starlight. Then, all the stars disappeared as the ship entered the dark confines of slipstream space.

He was just about to continue on when the lights dimmed and there was a BOOM that echoed through the empty corridor accompanied by a sudden whooshing noise.

"Explosive decompression!" Henderson yelled.

"Everyone grab onto something!" Horner bellowed as the air began to rush out of the corridor.

The marines grabbed onto the closest solid object as quickly as they could. Sean wrapped his right arm around an exposed conduit and held on as the airtight bulkheads slammed shut, sealing the compartment and stabilizing the atmosphere. Rob to a deep breath and let it out slowly, then the lights went out.

"Well this is fun." Henderson said in the darkness.

"We've dropped back into normal space." Jen said turning on a flashlight and feeling her way over to the viewport which was once again filled with stars.

"Catastrophic failure of the FTL drive." Sean said releasing his grip on the conduit and turning on his own flashlight. "Someone get on the COM and ask SARA to let us out."

"On it boss." Horner said walking over to the small touch screen set into the bulkhead and tapped it a few times. The screen was cracked and the image was partially distorted.

"Anything?" Henderson asked.

"Nope," Horner said turning away from the touch screen.

Sean walked over to the COM unit and examined the screen. The message "SPDR active" just kept flashing in the upper left hand corner of the dark screen. "AI's offline for automated repairs."

"Settle in boys and girls, we're not going anywhere." Horner said sitting down and leaning back against the bulkhead.

"Wake me when they get us out of here, or we run out of air, whichever happens first." Sean said slumping against the bulkhead and closing his eyes.

Moments later Jen could hear him snoring. She moved over to where Horner was sitting and sat down next to him. "so what's the deal with the LT sarge?" She whispered.

"You don't know the story?" Henderson asked sitting down on her other side.

"What story?" She asked in a whisper.

"According to scuttlebutt," Horner began, "Back during the insurrection the sarge…sorry the LT was working EOD for operation TREBUCHET. "

"So?" Jen asked, "Lot's of people worked with those guys."

"That's not the story." Henderson said, "the story goes that the innies got their hands on some old nuke and they put it up on some big office building and the military catches wind of the plan."

"So they send the LT in to disarm the bomb." Horner cut in, "He gets in there, and the innies have booby trapped the hell out of this thing, so he knows he can't actually disarm it, so he just removes the plutonium core from the detonating charge."

"Yeah, and he's kneeling there holding this ball of plutonium the size of his fist." Henderson said mimicking holding a small sphere. "What he doesn't know is that the time her found is a fake, and the detonating charge goes off."

Horner cut in again, "He got blown through a second story plate glass window, and landed on a car still holding the plutonium. "

"He broke his leg, three ribs, and had a concussion, but the bomb didn't go nuclear and no one got hurt." Henderson said finishing the story.

"So he's got some big brass ones, that doesn't explain why he's nuts." Jen said looking back and forth between Henderson and the sergeant.

"No that explains that he was already two rounds short of a full mag before this war started." Horner told her. "Now I've only been with the LT since Eridanus but the story goes that he was part of the force that was trying to repel the Covenant forces on Madrigal in 2531." Horner began, "Apparently his parents, his wife, and his four year old daughter were living on Madrigal at the time. So he defied a direct order from the Colonel and went to extract them." Horner lowered his voice even further. "Story goes that he got there too late. One version of the story says that he saw it happen, the other says that he just didn't make it in time."

"Yeah, but they both end the same," Henderson told her, "He was so pissed he brought the entire apartment block down on the heads of like fifty elites."

"It was only twenty." Horner corrected, "But that is the story.

"He's more complicated than I thought," Jen said, "I thought he was just crazy, but it's a lot more than that."

"And why do you think that?" Henderson asked incredulously.

"It's a woman thing." She said giving him a look.

Just then the lights came back on and one of the bulkheads began to retract. Sean yawned and stood up just as the bulkhead opened enough to reveal two navy techs standing on the other side. "Took you long enough." He told them.

"Sorry sir, we'll be underway again in a few hours."

"Good for that, now if you'll excuse me, me and my men have a date with a cryo tube." Sean said gathering his gear and looking at the rest of the unit who was still sitting on the deck on the other side of the compartment. "Well?" He said, "Are you coming or are you just going to sit there all day?"

"Is that an order sir?" Horner asked.

"Hell sarge I don't care what you do on ship." Sean replied.

"In that case, I'm comin'." Horner said pulling himself up off the deck.


End file.
